The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Saw quite a few P64 pistole's at the gun show this morning, prices ranged from $189.00 to $239.00. A good number Bulgarian Makarovs at $285.00 each for pistole's in very good condition, fellow said he had more in much better condition if I was interested; didn't ask him how much. One fellow had three Romanian Tokarovs at $239.00 each, pistole's looked to be in very nice condition. If I hadn't purchased a Star PD recently I would have picked up one of the Bulgarian Mak's or the Takarovs.
The best price of the day was a new Taurus 709 which my range partner fairly honest Ed picked up for carry. In general every thing else was so outrageously priced that very few items were being purchased, a big change from a three months ago.
I don't quite understand the disparity in prices but it is obvious that the ammo hoarding is over, lots of ammo at lower prices, plenty of 380 to be had but still ridiculously priced.
Generally a pleasant experience,
G.R.

gunneyrabbit, still not a lot in the stores. But, J&G is offering Ak47/ammo package deals. 7.62x39 still being high. I just missed the gun show in Tallahassee, and I had been looking forward to it. I've only been to small shows recently, was interested to see if the bigger shows were more reasonable in price.

www.centerfiresystems.com is selling Wolf 7.62x39 1,000 rounds for $249 with free shipping until 9/30.

Martilyo, Thanks. I'm keeping two house holds right now (new job, the department was in bad shape), focused on getting it ready for an AIB inspection, got distracted. Gunnyrabbit might be right about the ammo shortages, prices might be starting to come down. But, haven't seen it yet here in Bainbridge Ga. A lot of the locals have buddies that work in the shops and in Walmart, who let them know when a new ammo shipment is in. I watched it happen in walmart. I bought 1000 rds. of .22 HP. Didn't have else I needed but for 30 mins they were well stocked, stuff flew off the shelves. .243, .308, 30-30, 30-06, .270 and WSM all gone not to mention .38 RNL, .357's, .45's. Had zero .380, .32acp. Buckshot all gauges JUST GONE.

Deer season is about to open so the rifle ammo is pretty well picked over but still plenty of 30.06 and 308 on hand. One thing that I did notice is the small operators were pricing quite a bit higher than the gun shops in the area. One fellow had quite a few one pound powder canisters, Hogden, Accurate, IMR, Winchester, etc., etc., etc.. Prices started at $30.00 and went up from there, needless to say he was not moving much stalk. I wasn't able to find carbide dies of any caliber. I currently load 380acp, 9x18, 9x19, 38/357, 40S&W and 45acp.. I've been hashing over the idea of loading 32acp and 25auto, that ammo is so expensive that I don't shoot two of my favorite pistole's; my PSA 25 and my Kel-Tec P32. I used to carry the 32 regularly because it is so easy to conceal and is lighter than the P3AT with nine rounds in the mag and one in the chamber. I always carried one or two extra six round mags, one in each pocket when ever I felt the need to carry, which is not often; things are pretty mellow here in the Portland/Vancouver area.
G.M.

I picked one of them up on Friday.. Probably the best condition there.
The kid selling them didn't seem to know half as much about them as myself, (partly due to research I have done on this site in the past) but he had 5.
I know the $185.00 one you were talking about... The one with barely any bluing left on it I'm sure.

I picked up a 1973 model for $200.00+$25.00 for his only spare mag.... Then I find the mags NEW on the web for 19.99 ???.

The one I picked up seems brand new.
The safety needs a little modification due to it sticking & being VERY difficult to disengage, & there is a blemish that someone tried to refinish but used a Bluing pen that didn't match the original bluing. I will strip & re-blue the pistol soon & fix the safety & it will be perfect.

The best part is that the engraving reads:
PW ARMS REDMOND WA
Z.M. LUCZNIC POLAND 9x18

Nowhere does the word MAKAROV appear!

I have the springs to reduce the trigger weight & increase the recoil spring ordered already.

The GREAT news is the pistol functions great!!
My last one had a BAD stovepipe issue.
This one feeds flawlessly, fires every time & ejects dependably.
I even tested the theory & fired 50 .380cal rounds through it.
The Ruskys designed the 9x18 round just the right size so that they could use western 9x17 in an emergency if need be. It is less accurate do to smaller diameter, but functions the pistol well.

I DO NOT SUGGEST DOING THIS. I just had to test the theory. It panned out.

My new P-64 shoots so accurately it is hard to believe. At 50' I was hollowing out the bullseye on my silhouette target!

The P-64 seems to line up with your hand so naturally that sights at 25' are not even necessary unless your taking head shots.

This little pistol is getting better groups than my Glock-17.
I traded my last P-64 in on the Glock due to the stovepipe issues. I had even polished the feed-ramp, to no avail. It broke my heart to part with her :'(, but an undependable firearm is useless. I think my first experience is the exception to the norm.

This new one is my dream come true in the form of a P-64.

Thanks guys for getting Wolf to make the kits!
Last time I did the Sannds fix the old fashioned way.

I do wish I had the old style grips though... I'll get to that soon.

Paulski, welcome to the forum, you have joined one of the greatest group of fellows around!

Your right about the pistole's that had the bluing worn off, worst looking specimens I've ever seen and I'm sure they were not serviced by their respective armories as I noted a metal defect on one that was displayed.
Congratulations on your purchase, happy to here you are pleased with your second selection, but be careful though; they do have an odd way of multiplying and can take over your gun collection.

I agree with your advise to not fire 380 ammo through the pistol, it is entirely too expensive and could possibly be dangerous, the smiths here at the forum warn against it also.

Always good to here from a fellow Oregonion, there may be more than six of us by now.
G.R.

Thanks.

My first must have been a rare "vodka special".
This new one is awesome. I am sure at the price, I will get many more.
I am Polish which is what first attracted me to it. Now that I have this one, WOW! I am impressed. Unrivaled accuracy for the size.

Keith's sporting goods in Gresham sells them occasionally too..

EDIT: was the defect a LARGE bump on the feedramp of a terrible looking one with hardly any bluing left? the guy offered me that 1 for $185.00.

He was a good guy though, he sold me <s>9x17</s> 9x18mm for $14.00 a box, & I bought a bunch.
The last time i paid that little was 3 years ago!! ;D ;D ;D

And his don't have the word makarov engraved on them.
I WOULD MUCH RATHER re-finish it myself than have "MAKAROV" engraved on her.
I got tired of correcting people last time.

Paulski,
The pistol that I was referring to had a defect on the safety and the bluing was thin to nonexistent.
Thats not a bad price for commercial 380 but you need to start reloading and get your prices down to under $6.00 per box. Normsutton is the person that got me going, he is a wealth of information about anything gun related and is more than willing to share his knowledge with any of the members.
Good luck with your new pistol.
G.R.

Oops, I ment 9x18mm.
I have no use for 9x17. (other than a box that I had lying around from an old .380 makarov that I had years ago that I did my "experiment" with)
The last time I saw it was a month ago for 28.00 per box. so $14.00 was 1/2 price.

I have considered reloading. I probably will get a good Dillon carousel setup eventually. The reason I didn't already, as I am sure your aware, is that primers were lately, until recently harder to come by than ammo.

Also I want to get top quality equipment the first time when dealing with something as volatile as reloading.

I am the type who would have to mic every casing to be absolutely sure it was within acceptable tolerances.

I will get around to that eventually though.

As my primary shooter as of late <s>is</s> was a G-17 & they highly reccomend against the practice, I had justification to delay.
No reason any more though.

Like Gunneyrabbit, I also thought about reloading 0.32 and 0.25. I bit the bullet a fair while ago on the 0.32 (and now have around a 1000 rounds tucked away). The 0.25 took a little longer but that too turned out to be easy, but only a couple of 100 loaded. Best price I have found for bullets is the MagTech from Midway where I can add a pack of a 100 or so to an order to bring it up above the $40 level. Since I have a C&R, Midway gives me dealer prices. So now it is reloading almost all calibres from 0.25 to 0.455; does make shooting the 'stranger" weapons more fun. Particularly as I loaded up on primers quite a while ago. Dave_n